


Try not to think about you (But it ain’t workin')

by Mooresomore



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Jordan the best friend, Jordan the fixer, M/M, break-up and make-up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 10:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15168815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooresomore/pseuds/Mooresomore
Summary: “No!” Mat’s head shot up as he yelled. Noticing everyone’s eyes on him, he said more quietly, “Please don’t.”Ah. Jordan realized he’d hit a nerve. “Fine. I won’t. Just please, come back to your room. We have practice in the morning.”(aka, the fic where Mat and Tito break up, and with Jordan's help, they figure things out and make up)





	1. Mat's POV

**Author's Note:**

> If you know/are anyone in this fic, turn back now. Please. Completely made up!!
> 
> Disclaimer: This is complete and total FICTION. That means it never happened and is completely untrue. In fact, this is so far from the truth that it isn’t even in the same country as the truth. I don’t own anybody, and I make no money off of this. I am not in any way implying said characters’ sexual identities. All knowledge of these people are from public information. All thoughts are my own.
> 
> Unbeata'd, so all mistakes are all (and only) mine
> 
> Title from Chris Young's "I'm Comin Over"

Jordan groaned as he saw Mat slumped over at the bar again. This was the third time in the last two weeks. Whatever Mat was going through was fucking with him big time, but getting drunk off his ass wasn’t helping any (and how Mat was able to be at practice the next day and act like nothing had happened the night before was beyond Jordan).

 

“Mat, come on,” Jordan tapped Mat’s shoulder, breaking the drunken trance Mat was in. “Let’s go back to your room, eh?”

 

“No. Comfortable,” Mat slurred, resting his head on the bar. “Wanna stay here.”

 

“Fine. I’m calling Tito.”

 

“No!” Mat’s head shot up as he yelled. Noticing everyone’s eyes on him, he said more quietly, “Please don’t.”

 

_ Ah. _ Jordan realized he’d hit a nerve. “Fine. I won’t. Just please, come back to your room. We have practice in the morning.”

 

“Alright.” Mat stood up and took a couple of steps, swaying into Jordan, who reached out a hand to steady him.

 

“My room it is.” Jordan said when Mat followed him in and promptly passed out on the bed. Jordan left Mat on top of the covers. Kid was gonna have to deal with things in the morning- it was his own fault that he was in this predicament.

 

Jordan shut off the light and then room plunged into darkness; Mat was snoring softly, so Jordan let his eyes close as well.

 

Jordan wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when Mat’s screaming woke him up. Jordan hurriedly flipped on the light, only to find Mat still sound asleep (he must have been having a nightmare). Now that Jordan was fully awake, he focused on what Mat was saying.

 

“Tito, come back. Come on, we can talk about it. Fine, run off like a coward. I don’t know what I ever saw in you either.”

 

Hearing the one-sided conversation made Jordan tense a little; he hadn’t known Mat and Tito had ever been a “thing”. The next line drove home how well Mat and Tito had hidden things.

 

“No one’s figured out anything in the year we’ve been dating. You think me asking you to marry me is going to change that? Well, fuck you.”

 

_ Wait. They were serious enough that Mat had thought about marriage?  _ Jordan wondered.

 

Mat mumbled something else that Jordan couldn’t quite understand and then was silent again; Jordan, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep now, after hearing what he had.

 

A little while later, Mat started crying in his sleep. Jordan quickly woke Mat up. “Barzy, it’s me.”

 

“Tito?” Mat sleepily slurred.

 

“No, Jordan.” Jordan felt Mat relax. “You were having a nightmare.”

 

Mat grabbed on tight to Jordan. “Jordan, he… he just left me.”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“I think I wanna go puke first.” Mat let go of Jordan and went to the bathroom. When he was done, he came back out to find Jordan waiting with two coffee cups. “Thanks.”

 

“So, you and Tito,” Jordan said, leaving Mat an out in case he’d changed his mind.

 

“We were together. Since the beginning of my rookie year,” Mat confirmed, “I knew him from World Juniors, but nothing happened until we were both in New York.”

 

“I see,” Jordan said. “Last year, all that time…”

 

“We were hiding our relationship, yeah,” Mat said. “At first, it was me who was scared, then Tito started getting paranoid about it too. I kept telling him not to worry, that no one had figured it out throughout the whole season,” Mat paused, “Then, once I knew we were out of the playoffs for sure, I finally got the courage to ask him to marry me- I had even picked out a ring. I had this whole speech thing I planned and everything, but in the end, I took him to a nice dinner and then proposed when we got home. He was silent for way too long after I asked, so I just said his name. Then he said the word that I wasn’t expecting: no.” Mat paused, taking a sip of his coffee. “I tried to ask him why, but he wouldn’t answer. He just said he had to go and left. It took him a couple hours, but he came back home, and we got into a big fight.”

 

“Oh,” Jordan said, not letting Mat know that Mat had already said this (although not in as many words) in the nightmare.

 

“We got into it, and we both said some things. I told him I never knew what I saw in him.” Mat looked down at his coffee cup. “I regret that. As you’ve obviously seen, I haven’t been handling it well. I promise I don’t intend to go out and get drunk each time. It just sort of happens.”

 

“Have you tried talking to Tito about this?” Jordan asked.

 

“Yeah. We either get into another fight, or he ignores my phone calls.”

 

“I’m here. If you need someone.”

 

“Thanks Jordan.”

 

“Sure. Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s time for practice.”

 

Mat crawled back into the bed and was asleep again within minutes. Jordan stayed awake a bit longer, setting up a plan to get Tito and Mat to figure their shit out.


	2. Tito's POV

“Hey Tito, come grab lunch with me after practice,” Jordan said as they took the ice.

 

“Sorry, have plans already.” The hesitation in his response let Jordan know that Tito was lying.

 

“That wasn’t a question. You will be there,” Jordan said. Tito merely nodded and skated away from Jordan as quick as he could.

 

Mat hightailed it out of the locker room as soon as practice was over. As he waited for Tito, Jordan went over the speech he’d been rehearsing in his head since Mat had spilled everything the night before.

 

“Not that this isn’t nice, but why did you ask,” Tito paused, “Er, tell, me to come to lunch?”

 

Jordan liked Tito- he got straight to the point. “I wanted to see how things were going this year for you.”

 

“They’re fine.” Tito twirled a pasta noodle around his fork.

 

“Really? Then why are you and Mat barely talking to one another and avoiding each other? You two were practically joined at the hip last year.”

 

Tito’s fork clattered to his plate. “That’s none of your damn business.”

 

“Yes, it is Anthony,” Jordan said, using Tito’s full first name for effect, “When it messes with chemistry in the locker room.”

 

Jordan watched as Tito’s shoulders slumped a little and the fight started to drain out of him. “Is it really that obvious?”

 

“To me, yeah, but I’ve seen it before. I don’t know if anyone else has caught on.”

 

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Tito said.

 

“Let’s finish our food first, and then you’re coming to my room, where we’re going to talk this out.”

 

“Yes Dad.” Tito couldn’t resist, a smile working it’s way onto his face.

 

Jordan let Tito get dessert (it was the least he could do since he was going to put the poor boy through the wringer), and it was a silent elevator ride and walk down the hall.

 

“Alright,” Jordan said, motioning for Tito to sit down on the bed. “What in the hell happened? Start from the beginning.”

 

Tito took a deep breath. “We met way back at World Juniors, but didn’t do anything about it. Then we both got drafted by New York- that night is still a blur really- and we talked about things right before Mat got sent back to Seattle. Then he won the championship, and we both stuck with the Islanders. We were the two youngest guys on the team and we kind of gravitated to each other. Somehow it progressed into dating. We were keeping everything under wraps- we didn’t even tell our parents until after Christmas. At first, Mat was the one freaking out about someone finding out, but then I found myself with the same fear. I loved doing things with him, but I was always afraid we were going to get caught.” Tito stopped. “Then we got knocked out of the playoffs. Mat made me come to dinner with him. I knew something was off by how he was acting. The place was way too fancy for our style, and he kept fidgeting in his seat. We made it home and he proposed. I kind of stopped breathing for a second. Not that I didn’t love him, but I just felt it was all too much too soon. I was silent for too long, and when he said my name, I finally was able to blurt out the word no. He looked so crushed, but it was the right choice.”

 

Jordan looked at Tito, who had stopped speaking. “It was?”

 

“Yeah. We’re still so young, and I was too paranoid of what people would say. I left and took a long walk to clear my head and figure out how to tell Mat. When I got home, I told Mat what I was feeling, and it turned into a huge fight. There were a lot of things that we both said that were hurtful, but I think the dagger for me was when he said he never knew what he saw in me,” Tito’s voice cracked for a second. He cleared it before speaking again. “I mean, I did- and still do- love him, but this made it feel like he didn’t care at all. Every time he calls, I just ignore it or it ends up that we start fighting. I just- I just want it to stop hurting.” The tears that had been threatening to fall down Tito’s face started leaking out.

 

“Oh Tito,” Jordan said, leaning in for a hug. He wanted to say that Mat wasn’t handling things any better, but right now wasn’t the right time. “I’m sorry. Maybe things will work out.”

 

“I don’t know,” Tito snuffled. 

 

“Stay,” Jordan said. He wasn’t sure when he had become Mat and Tito’s “Dad” or “Grandpa” figure, but this was the perfect time to use that role.

 

“Ok.”

 

A couple of “Die Hard” movies later, the sour mood had been forgotten, and Tito was passed out face down in the pillow. Armed with all this new knowledge of things, Jordan started working on a way to get Mat and Tito to at least talk to one another again.

 

*

 

“Ebs, come on,” Tito said, shaking Jordan awake. “We gotta get ready.”

 

“Right,” Jordan stood up. “Feel better?”

 

“A little, yeah. Thanks.”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

Jordan decided he’d wait to set the plan into motion until they got back to New York. Now that he knew what he was working with, he could (hopefully) fix it.


	3. Fixing Things and Making Up

Jordan had ended up recruiting Dennis Seidenberg to help with the plan; Mat was still close with the kids, and Jordan had promised he would be there to help as well (especially after he had filled Dennis in). 

 

Dennis patted Jordan’s shoulder. “I hope you know what you’re getting into.”

 

“I do. I just...I’m tired of seeing them sad and we need them talking if we’re going to be any good this season.”

 

“Spoken like a true parent,” Dennis chuckled. “Alright, yeah, next Thursday works.”

 

Mat was easy to convince to help babysit the Seidenberg kids; Tito finally gave in and agreed to help when Jordan promised him dinner. Jordan didn’t tell either of them that the other person was going to be there.

 

When Tito walked in to the basement and saw Mat, he started to turn around to leave. “No, I can’t.”

 

“You can and you will.” Jordan looked between Mat and Tito. “You two go into that room over there,” he said, pointing to Mats old bedroom, “and talk things out. Do not make me lock you two in there.”

 

“But the kids,” Mat protested.

 

“That’s why I’m here. I’m going to watch them and keep them occupied.”

 

“Fine. Come on Tito, the sooner we get this done, the better,” Mat said. They went into the room, and Jordan went to go get the kids something to eat. Once they were settled in, he snuck downstairs to make sure Mat and Tito hadn’t killed each other yet (or snuck out). He wasn’t sure what to expect, but when he heard the laughter carrying through the door, he figured things were on the right track. 

 

Jordan knocked on the door. Mat opened it, looking happier than he had in awhile. “Yes?”

 

“There’s some food upstairs if you want it.” Jordan looked between Tito and Mat. “You guys look like you’re happy.”

 

“We are. You can stop your meddling now pops,” Tito laughed. “But thank you.”

 

“I take it…” Jordan started, stopping when Mat raised his hand.

 

“We’re still talking and working on things. But, thanks for nudging us to work it out.”

 

“I just want you guys happy.”

 

“We will be, eventually,” Tito said, standing up. “You said there was food?”

 

Jordan laughed. “Upstairs, at the table. Come on Mat, you too.”

 

“Alright. Then we can have a mini sticks game afterwards?”

 

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Jordan agreed.

 

Mat tugged on Jordan’s hand to hold them back for a second. When he knew Tito was out of earshot, he said, “Thank you. I won’t be needing you to come get me from the bar anymore.”

 

“You guys are really okay? You’re not just saying that so I’ll leave you alone?”

 

“We’re working it out, but I think we’re going to be fine,” Mat said. “We both had a lot of stuff we should have talked about when we were dating the first time.”

 

“Ah,” Jordan said. “Come on, I made plenty of food.”

 

(And the next year, when Mat and Tito asked to talk to Jordan, he had an idea what it was about; he was still surprised to be asked to be Mat’s best man, but he accepted the offer.)


End file.
